From the September 1999 Idaho Observer:

Judge drops charges against Newport man

NEWPORT, WA -- Judge Richard White dropped all charges that had been filed against Morris Bereiter, 49, for rolling through a rural stop sign on an icy road. Pend Oreille County Deputy Greg Rogan stopped Bereiter January 1, 1999, for failure to stop and for no apparent reason, maced the man (The Idaho Observer, July, August, 1999). Deputy Thad Schultz soon arrived on the scene and both officers began to beat Bereiter in front of his two boys, 12 and 14 years old.

The sober but beaten and bleeding Bereiter was thrown in the drunk tank and charged with reckless driving, resisting arrest and obstructing an officer and was looking at spending in excess of two years in prison.

Bereiter, who refused to be intimidated by this injustice, tenaciously served as his own counsel and the charges were subsequently dropped.

The path for civil action against the deputies appears to have been cleared by the dismissal of the bogus charges.